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Sunday, January 10, 2016

Republicans presidential candidates both dislike and don’t understand children (rough draft)

Before anybody attacks me with righteous indignation just know I have been very critical of Arne Duncan, a historically and secretary of education and President Obama who I believe has had disastrous education policies as well.

Two things republican presidential candidates did this week really caught my eye.

First there was Ben Carson humiliating a fifth grader. He asked his audience of children to point out the worst child in the class and apparently there was a consensus pick. Now Carson can blame the media all he wants but the truth is what he did was unacceptable. But what’s worse is he doubled down saying he would do it again because he didn’t see that he did anything wrong with humiliating the kid.

From the Washington Post:

 Somehow, the word “gaffe” doesn’t quite describe Ben Carson’s latest foot-in-mouth moment. His stumble on the stump in Iowa on Thursday was awkward, embarrassing, possibly painful — anything but funny. And it involved a school kid who — how to put this pleasantly? — perhaps in the view of his fifth-grade classmates does not shine as brightly as they do, and was called out for his shortcomings in front of 500 people at a campaign rally. 

By a man who wants to be president. Later, asked in an interview with WABC’s “Election Central with Rita Cosby” whether he would do it again, he said “absolutely,” saying it helped students understand their potential and accusing the “left wing and media” of making “much to do about nothing.”

Here’s how it went down: Carson has told a story countless times about how he was a “horrible student” who was called “dummy” as a kid. He’s told it in his books and it’s been retold in books about him, including in “Gifted Hands, Kids Edition” — in a chapter called “The Dumbest Kid in Fifth Grade.” Though the veracity of some of Carson’s moral fables has been questioned, he contends his mother took him aside and told him to buckle down or he’d be sweeping floors for the rest of his life. He did, of course, and the rest is history for a retired pediatric neurosurgeon with 38 honorary degrees to prove his worth. It’s inspiring — or, at least, supposed to be inspiring for those kept out of the operating room by lack of ability or opportunity. 


Oy vey. If he really wants this kid to improve and it sounds like some of his classmates think he has room to do so, step one should not be humiliation.
Then Ted Cruz advocating the spanking of five year olds. Not a pop on the wrist or on the bottom but a spanking. When talking about what he would like to do Hillary Clinton he told the following story.
From the Huffington Post:
In my house, if my daughter Catherine, the 5-year-old, says something she knows to be false, she gets a spanking," Cruz said, standing on the bar of a local shop here, looking into the crowd.

In the Democratic primary, Cruz said voters have the opportunity to hold Clinton accountable.

"In America, the voters have a way of administering a spanking," Cruz said with a smirk. "I can tell you this: As president ... there will be accountability for Benghazi."

Now don’t get me wrong, I think kids need discipline and heck in the most sever and extreme situations maybe even a spanking, but to routinely spank a five year old for just being a five year old is ridiculous.
Cruz has a flair for the dramatic and majored in hyperbole so I guess there is a chance he was playing to the crowd but I would suggest he talk to his daughter and explain how lying is wrong instead of spanking her, a lesson if his story is correct, she doesn’t seem to be learning a lesson he should learn too.  

Then once again Chris Christie attacked teacher unions

From the Hill
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) says real education reform is impossible as long as teachers unions remain a powerful force for the status quo.

“The single most destructive force for public education in this country is the teachers union,” Christie said at a Jack Kemp Foundation panel discussion in Columbia, S.C., on Saturday. “It is the single most destructive force.”

This tired old attack shows a complete misunderstanding about education. Teachers and children fate’s are linked. If it’s bad for kids (high stakes testing for example) it would be bad for teachers. If it’s bad for teachers, making the profession so unattractive people leave, then it’s bad for kids. 
Despite Christie’s assertion to the contrary there is no organization that advocates more for kids than the teacher union’s do.
These guys are completely out of touch.

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